By Bondry Kilenga
Government has commenced the process of validating the elders who were disqualified from the Social Assistance Grants for Empowerment-SAGE program in Karamoja due to a mismatch of details in their National Identity Cards.
The exercise which commenced on Friday in Moroto and Kotido districts targets those aged 80 years and above but were not considered at the inception of the program.
Gabriel Achia Lokiru the regional operations manager for the social protection program from the ministry of Gender Labor and Social Development told our reporter that over 1,800 appellants aged 80 years and above will be vetted to benefit from the SAGE program.
According to Achia, they have received several complaints about the age of the elders as indicated on their national ID’s saying the exercise now aims at correcting the information on their ID’s so that they can benefit from the program.
Rita Kiyonga and Nyanga Martina some of the affected persons blame the NIRA officials for the mismatch in the information claiming the officials were not familiar with the events that they were born in to.
Lilly Lemukol the North division SAGE focal person in Kotido municipality says the vetting committees are facing the challenge of establishing the correct ages of the elders since most of them only remember the events they were born in while others living in remote rural areas are having trouble reaching the vetting centers.
